The Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce is proud to announce that we have graduated our latest Leadership Waco class. This week, we hosted a luncheon to celebrate the graduates.
Class 39 includes 36 business and civic leaders representing a variety of industries throughout the Waco area:
- Arash Abnoussi, ESC Region 12
- Robert Barnes, Greater Waco Realty
- Lisa Blackmon, City of Waco
- Jennifer Boen, STV Inc.
- Claudia Brill, JRBT
- Christene Dobranski, Coca-Cola Southwest Beverage
- Emelia Doku, Howmet Fastening Systems
- Rachel Donohue, Russ Davis Homes
- Blake Dotson, Central National Bank
- Mason Dunnam, Dunnam & Dunnam, LLP
- Steven Fischer, Community Bank & Trust
- Daniel Garcia, Extraco Banks
- Edgar Guerrero, Alliance Bank Central Texas
- Sara Herbelin, Seedhouse Creative
- Lesia Holt, Ascension Providence
- Stephanie Jackson, Cadence Bank
- Alex Jones Adesina, MD/MPH, Waco Family Medicine
- Cameron Kendrick, The Mitchell Group
- Andrea Kosar, Cen-Tex Hispanic Chamber
- Jackson Kucera, The First National Bank of Central Texas
- Sonia Madatali, Le Danni Fine Jewelers
- John Morkovsky, Blanchard & Thomas, LLP
- Kathryn Moseley, Baylor Scott & White Medical Center – Hillcrest
- Amber Nava, L3Harris
- Kassie Padgett, Brazos Braces
- Rachel Pate, Cen-Tex African American Chamber
- Clarissa Pompa, Waco Civic Theatre
- Carrie Qualls, HouseMaster
- LeeAnn Ray, Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers
- Lexy Reil, Greater Waco Chamber
- Mark Sauer, Bitty & Beau’s Coffee
- Monica Sedelmeier, City of Waco
- Mike Vogelaar, Greater Waco Sports Commission
- Kristen Warford, Pattillo, Brown & Hill, LLP
- Yolanda Williams, Waco ISD
- Joshua Wucher, Transformation Waco
During graduation, class representative, Sonia Madatali, Le Danni Fine Jewelers, remarked that participation in Leadership Waco gave her the opportunity connect with other leaders in our community to make a difference. This year, the Leadership Waco class project raised more than $21,000 to revitalize an outdoor learning space at Brook Avenue Elementary School. Updates to the space include a new all-weather whiteboard, a shed, 18 planters, 9 benches, 3 picnic tables, a potting table and rainwater collection bins.
Cohort members spent several days in June clearing out space, putting together benches and picnic tables, staining planters, filling planters with dirt and potting soil and painting the shed.
According to Leadership Waco participant and chief communications officer for Transformation Waco, Josh Wucher, “The school is ecstatic and plans to use the space to conduct science lessons, plant fruits and vegetables for gardening classes, and have reflective time in nature.”
Sponsors of the Leadership Waco: Pattillo Brown & Hill, LLP, Ascension Providence, Baylor Scott & White Medical Center – Hillcrest, Baylor University, Carpenter and Croft, PLLC and Extraco Banks. For more information about Leadership Waco, please visit: https://wacochamber.com/leadership-waco/